In some wheel loaders, a main body is separated into a front body and a rear body and they are coupled to each other such that these front and rear bodies are swung and steered in left and right directions. Such a mechanism is referred to as an articulated mechanism.
By adopting this articulated mechanism, as compared with a wheel loader of which direction of travel is changed by changing an orientation only of wheels through a normal steering operation, advantageously, change in direction can reliably be made with a small slewing radius.
In order to prevent the front body and the rear body from operating during transportation due to such an articulated mechanism, the articulated mechanism should be locked. For example, Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 1-39266 and Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 61-81279 disclose an apparatus for locking such an articulated mechanism.